CATALAN PRO-INDEPENDENCE CLAIM VICTORY IN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION
Catalonia’s separatist leader Carles Puigdemont is close to regaining
leadership of the region in a blow to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy who
sacked him two months ago, reigniting Spain’s worst political crisis in
decades.
Catalan pro-independence parties have held their absolute majority in
snap regional elections, dealing a severe blow to the Spanish government, which
had called the polls in the hope of heading off the secessionist push.
Together for Catalonia – the party led by deposed Catalan president,
Carles Puigdemont – took 34 seats, the Catalan Republican Left (ERC) took 32
and the far-left, anti-capitalist Popular Unity Candidacy took four. On
Thursday night, a jubilant Puigdemont termed the results a victory for “the
Catalan republic”.
Between them, the three parties will have enough seats to reassemble
the parliamentary majority that put them into office after the 2015 elections
if they can agree a new coalition.
The Catalan Socialist party took 17 seats, while Catalunya en
Comú-Podem – the Catalan version of the anti-austerity Podemos party – took
eight.
Trailing them was the Catalan branch of Spain’s ruling People’s party,
which won four seats – seven fewer than in the last election two years ago.
The election has become a de facto referendum on how support for the
separatist movement has fared since Rajoy sacked Puigdemont’s government for
holding a banned Oct. 1 referendum on splitting with Spain and unilaterally
declaring independence.
Puigdemont has campaigned from self-imposed exile in Brussels since
then, while Spanish authorities have sought his arrest on allegations of
rebellion.
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Thursday’s snap election was called by the Spanish prime minister,
Mariano Rajoy, in October after he used article 155 of the constitution to take
control of Catalonia and sack its government over its unilateral referendum and
subsequent declaration of independence.
The vote, which pitted secessionists against unionists, attracted a
record turnout of more than 80%, dispelling fears that holding the election on
a weekday rather than the usual Sunday would hit turnout.
Puigdemont had been campaigning from Belgium after fleeing to Brussels
on the grounds that he would not receive a fair trial in Spain over possible
charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds.
His former vice-president, Oriol Junqeras, leader of the ERC, is in
prison along with two prominent pro-independence leaders.
Puigdemont said the results had demonstrated the strength of the
Catalan people. “As Catalan president I wish to congratulate people for delivering
an indisputable result,” he said in Brussels. “We have won this election in
exceptional circumstances, with candidates in prison, with the government in
exile and without having the same resources as the state.”
Marta Rovira, number two on the ERC ticket, said the election showed
that Catalans had voted for a republic. She said: “Now we have to reopen
parliament and respect the democratic mandate.”
But Inés Arrimadas, the leader of the Catalan Citizens party, said of
its strong showing: “We have sent a message to the world that a majority in
Catalonia is in favour of the union with Spain. For the first time, a
constitutionalist party has won a Catalan election.”
Xavier Albiol, the leader of the Catalan People’s party, congratulated
the Citizens party on its results and conceded it had not gone well for his own
party.
“It’s been a very bad result for PP but also for the future of
Catalonia,” he said. “We have warned of the dangers of a secessionist majority
and although they have less support, they will be satisfied.”
Miquel Iceta, the leader of the Catalan socialist party, called on
whoever becomes the next Catalan president to “reject the unilateral path that
has done so much damage”, adding: “What is clear and that the government has to
recognise is that the laws can and should be changed.”
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His sentiments were echoed by the candidate for Catalunya en
Comú-Podem. “This country needs to enter a new stage,” said Xavier Domènech.
“These elections show that the central government has to enter into a real
dialogue.”
Much will now depend on what the pro-independence parties agree.
Puigdemont is facing arrest if he returns to Spain and fractures have appeared
between him and Junqueras, who has appeared to take a more moderate line on
independence.
The vote is the latest chapter in Spain’s worst political crisis since
its return to democracy four decades ago. The results will be bruising for
Rajoy and will do nothing to heal divisions in the region, which remains deeply
and evenly divided over the independence issue. Any solution to the vexed
question of Catalan sovereignty remains as elusive as ever.
The pro-independence movement, which has grown over the past five
years, raised the stakes in June when Puigdemont announced that a unilateral
referendum would be held on 1 October, with Catalans asked: “Do you want
Catalonia to be an independent country in the form of a republic?”
Despite warnings from the Spanish government and the country’s
constitutional court that the vote was illegal, Puigdemont pressed ahead with
the referendum, in which 90% of participants opted for independence on a
turnout of 42%.
The day was marred by violence when Spanish police, who had been
instructed to halt the plebiscite, dragged voters out of polling stations, beat
them with truncheons and fired rubber bullets.
At the end of October, MPs in the regional parliament again defied the
central government by voting for independence by a margin of 70 votes to 10 as
dozens of opposition MPs boycotted the secret ballot.
Rajoy responded by invoking the never-before-used article 155 to take
control of Catalonia, sack the regional government and call the elections.
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